Prestwick

Scotland has produced many great links courses, but Prestwick is something apart. It is not just a golf course; it is the place where professional tournament golf was invented. The first Open Championship was played here in 1860, contested by eight professionals over three rounds of the 12-hole layout. Willie Park Senior took the original prize, a Challenge Belt rather than the Claret Jug, and a tradition that would come to define the sport was born. Old Tom Morris won four times at Prestwick. His son, Young Tom, won the title four more times before his death at 24. To play Prestwick today is to walk the same ground as the men who shaped the modern game.

The course itself is a deliberate anachronism. Unlike many great links that have been stretched and reshaped for modern professional play, Prestwick has remained stubbornly, gloriously itself. Blind tee shots are a feature rather than a flaw. The Cardinal bunker on the third, a vast cross bunker that has been swallowing golf balls for more than 150 years, is the most famous of many strategic hazards. The routing is eccentric by contemporary standards, with the railway line and the Pow Burn both coming into play. Length is rarely the answer; reading the ground, managing the wind and keeping the ball in play are the essential skills.

The combination of historical weight and genuine challenge makes Prestwick one of the most sought-after experiences in golf. Because access is limited and visitor numbers are deliberately kept low, a round here retains the feeling of a genuine privilege. The club's unpretentious atmosphere and the tangible connection to the earliest days of the professional game make it unlike anywhere else in Scotland.